tifications. In these
dwellings AEthelberht and his followers lived, and to them had been
given the new name of Cantwarabyrig or Canterbury (_the dwelling of
the men of Kent_). The English were heathen, but their heathenism was
not intolerant.

2. =AEthelberht's Supremacy.=--AEthelberht's authority reached far
beyond his native Kent. Within a few years after his marriage he had
gained a supremacy over most of the other kings to the south of the
Humber. There is no tradition of any war between AEthelberht and these
kings, and he certainly did not thrust them out from the leadership of
their own peoples. The exact nature of his supremacy is, however,
unknown to us, though it is possible that they were bound to follow
him if he went to war with peoples not acknowledging his supremacy, in
which case his position towards them was something of the same kind as
that of a lord to his gesiths.

3. =Gregory and the English.=--AEthelberht's position as the over-lord
of so many kings and as the husband of a Christian wife drew upon him
the attention of Gregory, the Bishop of Rome, or Pope. Many years
before, as a deacon, he had been attracted by the fair faces of some
boys from Deira exposed for sale in the Roman slave-market. He was
told that the children were Angles. "Not Angles, but angels," he
replied. "Who," he asked, "is their king?" Hearing that his name was
AElla, he continued to play upon the words. "Alleluia," he said, "shall
be sung in the land of AElla." Busy years kept him from seeking to
fulfil his hopes, but at last the time came when he could do something
to carry out his intentions, not in the land of AElla, but in the land
of AEthelberht. He became Pope. In those days the Pope had far less
authority over the Churches of Western Europe than he afterwards
acquired, but he offered the only centre round which they could rally,
now that the Empire had broken up into many states ruled over by
different barbarian kings. The general habit of looking to Rome for
authority, which had been diffused over the whole Empire whilst Rome
was still the seat of the Emperors, made men look to the Roman Bishop
for advice and help as they had once looked to the Roman Emperor.
Gregory, who united to the tenderheartedness of the Christian the
strength of will and firmness of purpose which had marked out the best
of the Emperors, now sent Augustine to England as the leader of a band
of missionaries.

4. =Augustine's Mission. 597.=--Au